Osborne and Butcher Advance in Mahattan
Rob Dinerman for SquashTalk © 2004; all rights of reproduction reserved.
April 24, 2004     

Fully avoiding the mid-match let-up that had cost them so dearly last week in the Big Apple Open, eighth seeds Jeff Osborne and Scott Butcher overwhelmed Chris Deratnay and Alex Pavulans last night in the first round of the $ 80,000 Kellner Cup, the biggest prize-money event on the entire 2003-2004 ISDA schedule.

Osborne and Butcher will now oppose Gary Waite and Damien Mudge, who won the first three editions of this tournament before being edged out 15-13 in the fifth by Blair Horler and Clive Leach in last year's final, but who are more vulnerable now than at any time in their five-year domination of professional doubles squash on this continent.

The reason for the foregoing is the incompleteness of Waite's recovery from a severe though fluke wrist and thumb injury while skateboarding with his oldest daughter last month that forced him to the sideline for several weeks. He returned to competitive play in the Big Apple Open last month but was noticeably hampered in his swing and unable to generate more than 40% of his normal power. Though he and Mudge were nevertheless able to reach the final, they were badly beaten at that stage by the first-time team of Willie Hosey and Clive Leach, who mercilessly attacked Waite throughout while pinning only the fifth-ever loss, and first in three games, on their vaunted opponents, who had won 10 of the 11 ISDA tour stops prior to Waite's accident.

In that match the severe constraints on Waite's game in his current state were fully exposed and exploited, and there is no question that the rest of the tour has taken notice. Included in this group, of course, are Butcher, who served as a line judge in that final, and Osborne, whose own unhappy Big Apple Open experience ended for the first time in their two-year partnership with a qualifying-round loss when they squandered a two games to love lead over Chris Walker and David Kay and wound up losing in a close five.

Determined not to repeat that process in front of their home Racquet & Tennis fans this time around, Butcher and Osborne decisively moved out to a 15-7, 10-5 advantage over Deratnay and Pavulans in one of several difficult round-of-16 match-ups in this talent-laden draw. Both teams have earned victories over the formidable Horler/Leach duo during the past 13 months and both have progressed as far as the semis of an ISDA ranking event during that time. It was here that Butcher and Osborne encountered their only ragged patch of the night, with each contributing several tins to a 6-0 Deratnay/Pavulans burst that eventually caused that swing game to enter a best-of-five tiebreaker session.

A tightly-angled Pavulans reverse-corner winner accounted for the first point, but then Deratnay tinned a backhand roll-corner, Butcher threaded a tin-defying drop shot and Osborne caught a cross-court nick to give them that game 16-14. Buoyed by this narrow escape, they raced off to a solid lead by the middle of the third game and finished it off 15-11 on another Osborne nick.

In other first-round action, Walker and Kay were expected to give fifth seeds Jamie Bentley and Preston Quick a tough go of it, but the latter team won in three. So did top seeds Waite and Mudge over qualifiers John Russell and Steve Scharff and Hosey and Leach over qualifiers Dean Brown and Taylor Fawcett. The other pair of successful qualifiers both took their opponents to five games. Jeff Stanley and Noah Wimmer fell just short in a fifth-game overtime against sixth seeds Eric Vlcek and Ben Gould, but Damian Walker and Tom Harrity managed to win in five over seventh seeds Doug Lifford and James Hewitt.

No. 2 seeds Josh McDonald and Viktor Berg dropped a game against Todd Binns and Jeff Mulligan, as did Michael Pirnak and Horler (who was making his return to ISDA play after missing the last six events with a knee injury) to Morris Clothier and Ken Flynn. The quarter-finals begin at noon today at the University Club, with the semis set for Sunday at the Union Club and the final Monday evening at Racquet & Tennis.

Summary Of The Round Of 16:

Gary Waite/Damien Mudge d John Russell/Steve Scharff, 3-0;
Scott Butcher/Jeff Osborne d Chris Deratnay/Alex Pavulans, 3-0;
EricVlcek/Ben Gould d Jeff Stanley/Noah Wimmer, 3-2;
Willie Hosey/Clive Leach d Dean Brown/Taylor Fawcett, 3-0;
Michael Pirnak/Blair Horler d Ken Flynn/Morris Clothier, 3-1;
Preston Quick/Jamie Bentley d ChrisWalker/David Kay, 3-0;
Damian Walker/Tom Harrity d Doug Lifford/James Hewitt, 3-2;
Josh McDonald/Viktor Berg d Todd Binns/Jeff Mulligan, 3-1.

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